SPRINGFIELD - Western Massachusetts Electric Company has issued a statement claiming that its work to restore power to customers who lost power the historic October 29 snowstorm is "essentially complete," even while several hundred city residents remain in the dark.

“We understand the difficulties that the extended power outage caused our customers. We recognize their frustration with the lengthy restoration, and want to thank our customers for their incredible patience and understanding during this extraordinary event,” said Peter J. Clarke, the company's president and Chief Operating Officer.

The release read, in part: "Work on all known customer outages has been completed. An outbound calling campaign has been run to identify any customers remaining without power. Crews will work through the evening to address any lingering outages, and WMECo will maintain extra staffing to reconnect customers who have completed repairs on their property."

At 6:30 Sunday evening, company's online outage map still showed pockets of customers throughout the Pioneer Valley without power, including 502 in Springfield. Shortly after 8 p.m. Sunday the Springfield figure hovered around 350.

Residents in Springfield have reported that power outages persist on Windermere and Parker streets. One MassLive.com reader reported that power came back to a home on Parker Street around 8:15 p.m.

Outages in the remainder of the cities and towns the utility serves affected between 1 and a few dozen customers.

Meanwhile, National Grid reported around 8 p.m. that it had restored power to all but 15 customers in Hampden County. The utility's outage map showed 7 customers without power in Palmer and fewer than 5 customers each in the towns of Brimfield, Hampden and Monson.

In Hampshire County at 8 p.m. National Grid reported 5 customers without power in Ware and fewer than 5 each in the towns of Belchertown and Granby.

Our live blog has continued today, with readers sharing observations about where they've seen power restored and where they see crews working.